Madviolet takes east coast sound around the globe

Folk-rock duo Madviolet, comprised of native Nova Scotians Lisa MacIsaac and Brenley MacEachern, is returning to the Maritimes for a run of approximately 14 shows as a part of Stuart McLean’s Vinyl Café tour, including a date tonight in Moncton.

The duo’s international profile has been on the rise over the past five years, thanks to the incessant touring that they have been putting into countries including the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Germany.

The group has also managed to complete five tours of Australia in the past four years.

“International touring has been the focus of our career since the very beginning,” MacIsaac says. “It has just been with No Fool For Trying that we have really focused upon Canada.

“It is not to say that the international territories are more important to us than Canada is, it just seems like it has been more lucrative and easier for us to get work in international territories.”

Both MacIsaac and MacEachern agree that no matter where in the world they happen to find themselves on stage, audiences don’t tend to vary all that much.

“We have found that once you get on stage, the audience is the same no matter what country you are in,” MacEachern says. “As long as you’ve got the songs, it doesn’t really matter if the audience is familiar with you or not.”

Both members of Madviolet enjoy the nomad lifestyle that touring gives them.

Dubbing themselves as “foodies”, they are fortunate to experience the cuisine of many different cultures and territories all over the world.

“We are able to recall towns and venues by the meals we had there,” MacEachern says.

When the conversation turns towards their upcoming performance as a part of the Vinyl Café tour, MacIsaac and MacEachern say that they are looking forward to the tour for a couple of different reasons.

“The fact that we are doing two to three shows in the same place is a really nice feature about the tour with Stuart (McLean) in addition to the fact that he has such a devoted following,” MacEachern says.

“The fact that we will be playing for an audience which will be comprised of almost all fans is a huge perk,” MacIsaac continues. “These shows are going to be a great opportunity for us to be in front of a lot of people at once.

“We are hoping that it will prove to be a good way to augment our fan base.”

Once the duo’s Vinyl Café tour wraps up, they will be putting the finishing touches on a new record. MacEachern says that they are hoping for a late summer or early fall release.

Producer Les Cooper (Jill Barber, Meaghan Smith) manned the boards for the upcoming Madviolet record after having struck up a great working relationship with No Fool For Trying.

“We really like the sound of our next record and have really enjoyed working with Les,” MacIsaac says. “He tends to push us when we are in the studio; we really need that challenge.”